


lost in the vacuum

by problematiquefave



Category: Fear the Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, M/M, Pre-Slash, Quadruple Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 12:20:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19463878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/problematiquefave/pseuds/problematiquefave
Summary: Nick wakes from his cryrosleep early and alone. Kind of.





	lost in the vacuum

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts: silence, black, space
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated!

Nick wakes gasping. He blinks against the darkness, sucking down cold oxygen as he shivers in his pod. Gears whir and click around him and the pod opens with a hiss. He lays there for a moment, eyes adjusting to the dim overhead lights in the cryrosleep chamber. Finally, his grabs the edge of his pod and pulls himself up, looking around the room.

It’s silent and _empty_.

Nick frowns.

This is wrong. They were all supposed to wake at the same time – when they reached their destination. Yet his pod is the only one open.

Dread fills his stomach.

The halls of the space station are dark. If it weren’t for the strips of faint light running along the tops of the walls, he would be in pitch black. Nick wraps his arms around himself, hugging tightly as if to fend off the chill. A fruitless endeavor – the chill isn’t in the air, it’s in his bones and blood. No one ever said cryrosleep was pleasant.

He passes door after door, looking for some sign of life on the ship. But with each step, the dread inside him grows. Nothing, nothing, until…

He stops. An open door. _Someone else_.

Troy wakes to a ghost.

No, not a ghost – a person.

Which is just as bad.

The face in front of him is almost colorless. The tale-tale sign of having recently woken from cryrosleep. Which shouldn’t be possible. The Abigail is still fifty years from K2-18B.

The two of them stare at each other. The passenger is silent and unreadable, giving Troy the dubious honor of speaking first.

“What’s your name?” he asks hesitantly.

The passenger croaks out an answer. “Nick.” He pauses before asking, “Water?”

Troy nods after a second. Pushing himself out of his seat, standing to his full height – a few inches taller than Nick. “Give me a second.”

As he goes to grab water for Nick, Troy pulls out his tablet and looks the passenger up. His biography is colorful but his pod data is more so. Strings of corrupted code stare back at him from the screen. This might not be fixable.

He returns to the control center, finding Nick sitting in his chair. He jumps up, nervous, gingerly taking the cup after Troy glares.

Troy sits back, eyeing him. “You might be stuck with me, Nicky.”

It’s a warning in the darkness of space.


End file.
